Poets 'WOW' national judges

Tuesday

Jul 24, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Dejanique "Daisy" Armstrong's first-place performance might have been her last.

Tony Sauro

Dejanique "Daisy" Armstrong's first-place performance might have been her last.

Armstrong, scoring a perfect 30 with one poem, finished No. 1 in the nation Friday during the "indie slam" portion of the Brave New Voices slam poetry championship at the University of California, Berkeley.

"It was a surprise," said Armstrong, 18, a Lincoln High School graduate and member of Stockton's With Our Words team. "It was fun. I'm honored.

Armstrong and her three teammates - who performed a poem about Stockton's bankruptcy filing ("Stockton") - didn't advance to the tournament finals.

However, Armstrong and Alyssa Langworthy - also competing for the final time in the student championships - did perform on the final stage at Oakland's Fox Theatre on Saturday. They were one of four "sacrificial" warm-up acts.

Stockton's WOW poets have competed in the national tournament for five straight years.

"Daisy's our first champion," said Tama Brisbane, who co-founded WOW with husband Aaron. "We're very proud of her. But we're most proud of the respect Stockton now has from other teams and coaches."

Armstrong, competing against 45 poets, advanced to the finals with "Kai Love," a three-minute expression of affection for girlfriend Kai Davis, 18, a member of Philadelphia's team.

Her final-round poem, "AIDS," concerned a woman who was infected by a man and, "out of spite, decided to have sex with a bunch of men."

While Armstrong and Langworthy were performing "Unemployed Youth," "it was so loud and crazy that they couldn't yell above the crowd," said Aaron Brisbane. "They had to pause a couple of times and went over the time limit (three minutes)."

They were selected to reprise it on the finals stage.

The Denver team went on from that semi-final to win the team championship, performing the same four poems it did in the round against Stockton, which missed advancing by a fraction of a point.

Philadelphia, the Bay Area and Richmond, Va., were the other finalists.

Armstrong was competing in her third national tournament. It was Langworthy's fourth.

Armstrong, who's studying law enforcement in the U.S. Job Corps in Sacramento, said, "I really don't think I'll compete at the adult level."

Langworthy, 19, has reached the youth-slam age limit. The Cesar Chavez High School graduate is studying communications at University of California, San Diego.

Armstrong's three years as a slam-poetry competitor have been a personal victory as well.

"I had no idea," she said of her original expectations. "It's definitely made me more mature. I've learned a lot. It's made me more charismatic and more open. It's definitely matured me."